Ex-Gov Shema looted N76bn, says Masari

Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has accused his predecessor, Ibrahim Shema, of misappropriating N76billion public funds during his eight-year tenure.
The governor asserted that his administration has enough evidence to prove before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that Shema embezzled the money while in office.
Governor Masari made the allegation when the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar, visited him at the Government House, yesterday. Masari said Shema would only escape the hammer of the EFCC if he agreed to return the looted funds to the treasury.
He vowed to retrieve all the stolen funds from the affected public officers, correct past mistakes and bring sanity to the public service.
According to him, Shema misappropriated over N76.6billion the state received from the Excess Crude Account, ECA and diverted over N7.5billion to his private pocket.
Masari further alleged that Shema and other officials of the Ministry of Local Government connived with certain individuals and organisations to use fake receipts to divert over N800million meant for the purchase of drugs for councils in the state.
The governor said his administration was aware of a campaign of calumny being sponsored by Shema on the pages of newspapers to frustrate it from forging ahead with ongoing probes and retrieve stolen public funds.
He claimed that over N1.8billion was paid by the former governor to the proprietors of some newspapers for the job.
Masari said: “No amount of intimidation will stop us from probing Shema’s administration. It is better for them to return all the looted money or face the wrath of the EFCC.”
Masari pledged to run an open door government and called for wise counsel from the people of the state in order to move Katsina forward.
In his reaction, Emir Faruk urged the state government to give priority to agriculture so that it can generate jobs and boost food production in the state.
He also appealed to the government to commence the exploration of mineral deposits to lessen Katsina’s dependence on federal allocations and speed up its development.
Faruk further assured the governor that the people of Daura would support his administration to succeed.